new player, trying to decide on class

[dragonstrike]

Just got the game, and am liking it. The problem I get in MMOs is I have a hard time picking a class. I tend to have a lot of alts and never get that far into the game's content. I thought about a few classes/jobs.

paladin: I heard tanking was just standing there and taking damage. After research and sounds like they have to plan the battle and I am not sure if I would be good at that being new.

white mage: I like the idea of being support, but I know how important healer is and not sure if I would be good at keeping up. Plus I am playing on a ps4 controller so I don't know if that makes it harder or not.

Bard: I have been leaning towards bard because they were my favorite class in dungeons and dragons. I like the idea of sitting in the background and singing to support the group. I just see they are listed under dps, so are they more dps then support?

Rouge/ninja: Melee dps isn't what I tend to play, but they just sound cool.

[DJMau]

Well, if you choose a tank or healer you have a distinct advantage of never having to wait overly long for dungeon queue times since they're ALWAYS in demand. The big thing with those roles is learning dungeon layouts and boss fights to utilize proper mitigation. Far as your dps classes though, honestly try them all and see what feels right to you.

Far as your bard question: Yes they're DPS, but they support using their songs while dpsing at the same time

Best thing about this game is you don't need an alt so as said above, feel free to try as many jobs as you like

[NosamKin]

I would pick a class or two that sounds fun and try it out. I leveled a few classes in HW and am slowly working on some for SB. Some I leveled for a while and then quit deciding I didn't like that class.

You can get to lvl 10 on any class in about an hour which gives a feel for what the class is about.

Why have more than one class? Sometimes you get tired of your chosen job and it's nice to be able to switch.

[Estellios]

Just try all the ones you are interested in since you can play multiple, the game will be more fun that way anyways!

Play a bit further into the story (past the first 3 dungeons) and you get a quest in the Gridania Adventurer's guild that unlocks the Palace of the dead. The party composition doesn't matter so you should not have to wait long to enter no matter what job you are. The layout is random and you start at level 1 and level up very quickly. While this doesn't carry over into your actual level you can use this to get into the 20s or 30s in a class and feel how it plays with more of its abilities available. Best of all, if you clear 10 sets of floors you get a hefty chunk of xp towards your actual level so you can use it on occasion to level up your classes. Once you get past the Level 10 quest for your starting class you can unlock other classes and change between them at will so you don't have to worry about having to create a new character to try them all out.

I wouldn't let being a newbie prevent you from playing tanks. Lots of people take it as their first class and do just fine. Let people know you are knew and take the dungeons at a pace that is comfortable to you and be sure to ask questions and read what your abilities do.

And for your healer question, using a controller works just fine. Tons of people play on PS4 or with controllers on PC, myself included, and have no problems with any of the jobs. That said if you do think you would be more comfortable playing with a mouse and keyboard, you should be able to hook them up to the PS4 and use them. In fact it's recommended to at least use a keyboard for chatting since it's a lot faster and easier than using the virtual keyboard to type.

[dragonstrike]

That is my problem. I am interested in a lot of them. Just hit level 10 with arcanist. I don't mind the magic, but I am not enjoying dealing with the pet. Lancer seems cool, so does ninja. I am very indecisive. That is why I tend to try to find the jack of all trades class. The one that can do a bit of everything so I can help with all roles.

[Niwashi]

That is why I tend to try to find the jack of all trades class. The one that can do a bit of everything so I can help with all roles.

Well, this game doesn't exactly have any jack of all trades classes. They're all specific to a single role, either tank, healer, or dps. Instead of giving classes themselves the ability to adapt to being used for multiple roles, the game instead gives our characters the ability to learn multiple classes. You can help with all the roles if you level one or more classes from each of them.

(If you've done your level 10 class quest at the ACN guild, you can go to other class guilds and do a quick quest at each to unlock access to those classes as well. The marauder and rogue guilds are there in Limsa Lominsa, as are the Blacksmith, Armorer, Culinarian, and Fisherman classes if you want to branch out into crafting and gathering as well. The rest will have to wait until you reach the level 15 quest that opens up access to the other main cities. And then there are extra jobs added in the expansions that don't unlock until you reach level 50.)

Many players level all of them. Once you reach endgame, you'd have a hard time earning enough gear to equip all of them equally, so by that point you're best off picking a favorite to focus most of your attention on. There's really no need to choose a favorite or "main" class until then (though many people do). And even once you pick a main to focus on, you can still change it any time you want. So don't worry about what's going to be "best" at some point down the road. Try them all out, and continue playing whichever ones you enjoy.

[Frizze]

If dealing with the pet hasnt been your thing, then id say do the class quest at level 10 asap. This unlocks the "armory" system, which is how you change classes. If ninja seems cool, head over to the rogue guild and join up. Try it for a few levels and see how it feels. Ninja is a melee DPS class but they also have a good amount of support and utility style skills. Or if you want to try another flavor of magic, Thaumaturge(grows into Black Mage) casts big hard hitting spells without having to interact with a pet.

As for paladin(or either other tank), you dont really "plan the battle". Ideally, you pull the mob groups, get all the enemies attention, and hold them there while the group wipes them out. You are usually leading the way, but the planning portion is in how you use your defensive skills to survive, and how you set up the bosses(some you want to fight in the middle, some on the edge of their space, some you start in one place and later need to move). Its not the easiest role(DPS is clearly easiest - stand there and fire away while dodging the odd attack), but new people pick it up all the time and do just fine. Dont be intimidated.

And i know its been mentioned, but the game has multiple controller setups and you can find one that makes any class play easily enough.

[Anova]

You can level multiple classes on the same character, so you won't have the same alt problem as in other MMOs. In fact, it's easier to level up multiple classes on the same character than on an alt (because of the 50% exp bonus you get when leveling a class lower leveled than your highest level class). You can still make alts if you want, but it's mostly just for cosmetic purposes or in the rare case that you play so much you cap on dailies and weeklies instantly. There is very little branching of the storyline nor any significant difference between factions in this game. The only question is which class you want to level first.

Paladin and White Mage are both very strong classes now. White Mage is much more of a dps and healer hybrid than any of the other healers now, but their primary role is still healing. In comparison, Astrologian is much more support-based and is less able to do damage on its own.

You seem like a player who likes their utility. In that case, Bard and Red Mage should definitely be considered. Those two classes still feature high damage, and like many DPS classes, are not as durable as a tank, but canbring a large amount of support to the game.

Bard has the most utility of any job you want. You can provide a buff to crit, restore TP and MP, increase maximum HP, increase the healing someone receives, reduce damage, and remove unwanted status effects.

Red Mage is a new job and it is considered a magic dps class. However, it provides a surprising amount of burst healing because of the way their heal scales off INT (also your main stat), and the fact you can effectively cast 2 spells at once. You also get a raise effect at later levels that you can effectively instant cast any time you want, and this makes you a secondary/tertiary healer in most groups. You also have abilities that restore MP and reduce magic damage if you want even more utility.

As for the controller, everyone has their own preference for which works better for them, but there is no big difference in how it works. I will admit however, that healers seem to use the most macros out of any role. So keep that in mind if you're not comfortable making or using them.

[Maero]

The good thing is you can eventually level all jobs on your character. Playing on PS4 is no issue, only a few jobs there existed too many buttons so myself i had macros (only for scholar mind you) but now they have simplified some things so it makes it more console friendly.
Red Mage is more or less Jack of All Trades in a sense, it is dps but can raise and cure people

[Estellios]

That is my problem. I am interested in a lot of them. Just hit level 10 with arcanist. I don't mind the magic, but I am not enjoying dealing with the pet. Lancer seems cool, so does ninja. I am very indecisive. That is why I tend to try to find the jack of all trades class. The one that can do a bit of everything so I can help with all roles.

I like those kinds of classes in games too, I think you would definitely like Red Mage as was suggested, since you do great DPS and some really useful support options for emergencies that can help save the party. The major downside to that is that unfortunately it's not available until you hit level 50 in another class. You should definitely try out a healer though. Your main focus is on keeping the party alive but in most of the non-hardcore content like dungeons you have ample time to throw in attack spells if you are doing your job correctly, and you can contribute quite a lot to the party. It's part of why i really like healing in this game.